While the resurrects Pope Benedict XVI's dislike of Harry Potter another quieter battle is going on.

On July 6th Cardinal Archbishop Philippe Barbarin excommunicated a Catholic woman for claiming to be an ordained priest.

Genevieve Beney, a 56-year-old married physical education teacher and mother of two, was "ordained" Saturday on a boat on the Saone River near the eastern French city, by self-proclaimed "bishops" from the dissident movement Women's Ordination Worldwide as 60 activists who support female ordination looked on.

Then today in Canada

The archbishop of Ottawa has ordered the city's Catholic pastors and priests not to discuss the issue of female ordination in anticipation of an Ottawa conference promoting the controversial practice later this month.

The "Ottawa Conference" referred to is the Women's Ordination Conference now in it's 27th year of history. From the website

The Mission and Purpose of the
. . . . . . Women s Ordination Conference is to:

' Reclaim the church s early tradition of a discipleship of equals;
' Recognize a variety of ministries in the Roman Catholic Church;
' Promote inclusive spiritualities which are liberating and feminist;
' Support ministries that meet the spiritual needs of the
People of God;
' Celebrate our diversity of gender, race, ethnicity,
sexuality, language and symbol.

I am not a Catholic. I am an Atheist, and so view the Catholic church only as a powerful political entity from which women are barred access.

From "The World Seen From Rome"

For the eighth consecutive year, the operating statement for fiscal year 2000 for the Holy See closes with a net gain of 17.720 billion, equal to $8,516,000 US at the exchange rate at the end of the year of 2,080.89 lire per dollar. The total expenses were 404.378 billion and the total income was 422.098 billion. Compared with the previous fiscal year, the income was more substantial, having increased by 64 billion. As is easily imaginable, the increase in expenses is strictly related to the celebration of the Jubilee Year, which brought with it greater activity, and therefore a greater need for personnel, within the various offices of the Roman Curia and also of the media organs connected with the Holy See. In fact, in 2000 the number of our employees was approximately 2,700, with an increase of roughly 70 persons. The increase in income came particularly from a favorable monetary situation. With these introductory remarks, I turn now to an analysis of the principal entries of the operating statement, which as usual are expressed categorically in the following four sectors.

For the Record, the Net Income of Microsoft is just under 12 Billion. Imagine the outrage you would feel if women were not aloud to hold management positions there.

From PBS

Ninety percent of what goes into the Sunday collection basket stays with the parish; the rest goes "downtown" -- that is, to the diocese. A struggling diocese will get no help from Rome. On the contrary, parishes take a special collection once a year for the Vatican. The American Church, so often at odds with the Vatican, is its biggest contributor.

I would like to hear what all of you think of the role of women in the Church.